MUMBAI: With final numbers now in, Star Wars: The Force Awakens rose above estimates to post an all-time industry-high $248 million in North America plus $281 million internationally for an all-time record global debut of $529 million since opening day-and-date 16 December. This excludes any grosses from China, where the film opens 9 January, as well as Greece and India, where it opens this week.
Domestically, Disney now holds four of the top five debuts of all time. In addition to posting the biggest Thursday preview gross ($57 million) and the biggest Friday and single-day ever ($119.1 million), Star Wars: The Force Awakens set a new Sunday record of $60.5 million. Internationally, it was the biggest opening weekend ever in numerous territories including the U.K. (four-day), Australia, Russia, and Germany.
Yesterday, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said of the historic debut, “Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind Star Wars experience, and director J.J. Abrams, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and the Lucasfilm team have outdone themselves. To all of the fans around the world who not only came out in Force to make this such an exciting and astronomical debut but who treated this film as their own and helped preserve the experience for their fellow fans by not spoiling it—thank you, we do.”
Company Box Office Milestones Reached:
The galactic debut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has pushed The Walt Disney Studios to its highest year on record. Today, Disney will cross the $5 billion mark in global box office in a calendar year for the first time ever, surpassing the previous full-year record of $4.73 billion set in 2013. The studio has also reached new highs domestically with $1.851 billion and internationally with $3.134 billion through 20 December. The previous best for each was also set in 2013 with $1.719 billion domestic and $3.013 billion international.
These 2015 milestones were reached with outstanding performances from films across Disney’s brands, including Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron ($459 million domestic; $946 million int’l; $1.4 billion global), Disney• Pixar’sInside Out ($356.4 million domestic; $499 million int’l; $855.4 million global), Disney’s Cinderella ($201.1 million domestic; $341.4 million int’l; $542.5 million global), Marvel’s Ant-Man ($180.1 million domestic; $339 million int’l; $519.1 million global), as well as Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 2014 release Big Hero 6 ($305 million globally during the 2015 calendar year).
